Russian President Vladimir Putin signaled he was open to ceasefire talks with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as pressure from the Trump administration ramps up to secure a peace deal.
“We need to sort this out,” Putin told a Russian state TV reporter Monday. “Maybe even bilaterally.”
His comments came after a senior U.S. official told NBC News that this week was “critically important” when it came to securing a truce between the two sides that have been at war for more than three years since Putin launched an invasion of his western neighbor in February 2022.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov appeared to shift responsibility onto Ukraine, telling a press briefing that Kyiv “must attempt steps to clear the way” for talks. He added that Putin “has repeatedly spoken about his readiness to resolve the issue through negotiations.”
However, there is little evidence Putin has moved away from his core war goals: cementing his land grabs in Ukraine and stopping the country from joining NATO.
Although he did not address Putin's comments directly, Zelenskyy said late Monday that Ukraine “was ready for any conversation” about a ceasefire that would halt strikes on civilians. “Nevertheless, Ukraine stands by its offer — at the very least, not to strike civilian infrastructure,” he added.
There have been no direct talks between the two sides about ending the conflict, but both countries are coming under increasing pressure from President Donald Trump's administration to bring an end to the conflict. Trump, who will mark 100 days in office next week, promised to end the war on his first day.
And Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested Friday that the U.S. may be ready to “move on” unless progress was made on a peace deal.
“We’re not going to continue with this endeavor for weeks and months on end,” he said after meeting with Ukrainian and European officials in Paris.
Zelenskyy will again hold more meetings with senior American and European officials in London this week.
The senior U.S. official said the upcoming round of talks were “critically important.” The official added that Ukraine and Europe are expected to present their response to a “terms sheet” that was presented to them by Rubio and Trump's special envoys, Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg, in the French capital.
The official said that Rubio spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov last week, but little came out of the call. The official added there will be no “meetings for meetings sake” unless there are clear signs that progress was quickly achievable.
However, Yuri Ushakov, a Kremlin foreign policy adviser, told the state-run TASS news agency on Tuesday Witkoff will visit Moscow again this week having previously held three long meetings with Putin on prospects for an end to the war in Ukraine.
His comments came after Putin announced a temporary Easter ceasefire in Ukraine over the weekend citing humanitarian reasons.
However, both sides breached the truce after Russia targeted the country with a fresh round of strikes. Ukrainian troops later fired on Russia.
Zelenskyy in his overnight address Monday said the talks in London “have a primary task: to push for an unconditional ceasefire. This must be the starting point.”
But his country faces substantial hurdles in achieving real and lasting peace, given Putin's long held maximalist demands for ending the war, which would require Kyiv to cede all the land occupied by Russia and accept permanent neutrality.
Ukraine in the past has stated that doing so would amount to surrender and leave the country vulnerable to attacks by Moscow in the future.
Trump himself struck a more optimistic note Sunday, saying in a post on Truth Social that the two sides would “hopefully” make a deal “this week.”
